The present invention relates to veneer panels and, more particularly, to even-ply or two-ply wood veneer laminate panels and their methods of manufacture.
Wood veneer is commonly applied to the outer surfaces of furniture, doors or other architectural woodwork and to provide aesthetically pleasing wood grain appearance to such products. Because the veneer sheets used are thin, they are susceptible to breaking, warping or other damage, and therefore are bonded to one or a plurality of substrate layers to provide stability and strength. Typical substrate materials include other veneer sheets, paper, cloth, particle board, fiber board, reconstituted wood or fiber based board, and the like. Such multi-layer panels are referred to as laminate panels, and the composite structure of a laminate panel constructed of a veneer face bonded to one or a plurality of veneer substrates will be hereinafter referred to as a "veneer laminate panel."
A significant problem occurring with veneer laminate panel products is warping caused by unbalanced panel construction. After different types and thicknesses of veneer laminate sheets are rigidly bonded together, moisture content changes often occur to one or all of the sheets. In response to such changes in moisture content, the dimensions of the particular sheets will start to change which causes stresses to accumulate in the sheets, resulting in warping of the laminate panels when the stresses become excessive and are no longer balanced between the various layers.
A method of compensating for such a tendency is to construct the veneer laminate panels to be symmetrical from the centerline of the panel (with respect to the panel's thickness). Veneer laminate panels are typically constructed of an odd number of layers or plies and are arranged and selected in a combinations of species, thicknesses, and moisture contents to produce a symmetric and balanced panel. All inner plies, except the innermost (central) ply, occur in pairs and have the same thickness and grain direction; and each ply of each pair is placed on opposites sides of the inner-most (central) ply. Further, the grain of each ply is oriented at right angles to the grain of each adjacent ply. The use of an even number of plies (such as a two-ply laminate) is not prohibited. But the even ply laminate must contain identical layers of adjacent veneers with parallel grain orientation.
Accordingly, a need exists for an even-ply or two-ply veneer laminate that permits the use of a substantially unlimited range of combinations of face veneer plies and substrate veneer plies, that does not require the adjacent plies to be absolutely balanced and symmetrical, and that does not require the adjacent plies to have grains running in parallel directions.